XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-10   
   From: Newyana2@invalid.nospam   
      
   "Carlos E.R."  wrote   
      
   | >    The way it used to work is that software was thoroughly   
   | > tested before release. Then another version might come out   
   | > in maybe a year. At that point people might try it out, or they   
   | > might wait for reviews. And one could easily find a list of   
   | > actual changes in the new version. Most of my Windows software   
   | > hasn't been updated in ages and still works fine. But Microsoft and   
   | > Linux are now both guilty of seat-of-the-pants updating. If it   
   | > isn't stopped, Windows will show a message at boot every few   
   | > days: "Please wait. Installing updates."   
   |   
   | You should read "The cathedral and the bazaar".   
   |   
     That's addressing how to develop software. But then there's   
   the point at which the software is done, thoroughly tested,   
   and put to use. It needs to be well designed and stable. It   
   needs to do what people need. Then it needs to stay put.   
      
     Software shouldn't be a sexy business, with constant redesign.   
   What happens more often than not in the Linux world might   
   be called the greasemonkey syndrome. That's the case where   
   someone has a car on his front lawn and continually works   
   on tuning it up, adding scoops, and so on. He never quite gets   
   around to driving the car. He just likes to tinker.   
      
     For all Microsoft's faults, there's the advantage that their business   
   depends on business users. So Windows has to be stable, it has to   
   have a well documented API, and backward compatibility is critical   
   because businesses build their own inhouse software. I can write   
   software today on Windows that runs on every Windows machine in   
   the world, with no support files needed. With Macs one gets 2-3   
   years backard compatibility. With Linux it's a moving target. I'm   
   still using a 25 year old Paint Shop Pro on my 23 year old WinXP.   
   I'm still using current Firefox on 14 year old Win7. I had to update   
   my 4 year old Raspberry Pi OS because it couldn't run the latest   
   Chromium. It could only run Chromium 92, released in 2021. The   
   whole thing has to be periodically replaced.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)